Let’s face it, not every business is going to get their content marketing strategy right, every single time. Even some of the world’s biggest brands have made mistakes, and the biggest positive is that we can learn from these mistakes when we implement our own marketing strategies.
With that in mind, here are 4 businesses that failed at content marketing, and what we can learn from those failures:
Malaysia Airlines
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines was struck with not one, but two flight disasters. In an effort to get the company back on track, they ran a contest asking people to send in their ‘bucket lists’ in exchange for free prizes. Since a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die, people were quick to make the link between the previous accidents and the bucket lists – which didn’t bode well for the campaign.
Lesson: Think your campaigns through; be willing to cancel a bad idea before it plays out.
Levi’s
Levi’s infamously created a campaign that sold jeans with the tagline ‘Hotness comes in all shapes and sizes.’ The problem was, the image that went alongside it was of four women with very similar body shapes – tall and slim. The campaign was hugely unsuccessful and sparked immense controversy, with many people complaining that the ad was not an accurate representation of the average woman.
Lesson: Ensure consistency throughout your marketing campaigns to ensure that every step of the project has a cohesive and unified tone.
Nesquik
Nesquik’s campaign went off without a hitch, but the company soon learnt the hard way that this doesn’t always equate to success. they spent a great deal of money and a lot of time on creating a campaign that encouraged people to download their app that created bunny ears for your photos and pushed for a new “National Bunny Ears Day.” The campaign resulted in hardly anything and people had no interest in downloading yet another app that didn’t really offer much.
Lesson: Just because your marketing department loves it, doesn’t mean the public will, so put yourself in the shoes of your audience before launching a new campaign.
Apple
If you’re an iPhone owner, you probably remember randomly receiving a copy of a U2 album onto your iPhone, without your consent or desire. At the time, Apple thought it would be a good idea to give everyone free music – regardless of music preference or storage space. As you can probably tell the campaign wasn’t much of a success!
Lesson: Offer content for specific promotions, but don’t force it upon people.
Having a strategy, goals and plenty of ideas will definitely help your business to achieve its content marketing goals. It’s also important to constantly analyse your content to gain insights into future creation. What’s worked for your brand so far, and what’s failed? Staying on top of your campaigns will definitely help you to stay ahead of the game!
Need help with your content marketing?
Then contact HQ Content Writer today to discuss your content needs!
HQ Content writer 